Aqua Vitae
by ThePink1 at Reefside.Net
Summary: While searching for a missing experimental weapon, NCIS stumbles onto an even greater mystery. Guest starring W.i.t.c.h.
1. Chapter 1

"**Aqua Vitae"**

N.C.I.S. Fanfiction by: _A J_

Guest starring W.i.t.c.h.

(Standard **disclaimer** applies)

Chapter One

Irma Lair swore loud, long, and colorfully. Not that it mattered. No one would hear her, even here in the middle of D.C.'s Union Station. _'Hell,_' she thought, watching the crowd around her as people hurried to and fro. _'I could probably scream my head off in the Library of Congress and get less attention right now.'_

She knew that was only true because she could still see her body, such as it was. It sat far over by the ladies' room, slumped over the arm of the bench she'd occupied for less than a minute … and a lifetime ago.

'_Any time now …'_ She watched, feeling the seconds crawl by. Then an elderly matron in an avocado-green skirt-suit with obviously dyed russet hair came out of the lavatory. The woman stopped to find something in her purse, looked over at the desiccated young brunette on the bench, and screamed.

'_Yep, ya can't stay dead long in D.C. before someone finds your body.'_ Irma let out a cheer as more people stopped and stared, especially after the matron fainted. Her cheeriness died down fast when it took almost a minute before she saw a hunky brown-haired guy raise his cell phone. The conversation she heard next made her want to kill _him_, except she realized she didn't want anyone like that keeping her company in her peculiar hereafter.

_'Please tell me he didn't just send some idiot friend of his a picture of my dead body … without calling 911 first! And what kind of name is Ducky, anyway?'_

_freeze frame_

Author's note: I know it's really short, but I want to see what kind of interest it peaks before I put any more of it up. W.i.t.c.h. is a cartoon that used to be on Toon Disney, and starred five girls with magical control over the elements. Irma is (well, _was_ in this fic!) the Guardian of Water. I recommend the interested check out Cartoons / W.i.t.c.h. to learn more.


	2. Chapter 2

"_**Aqua Vitae"**_

N.C.I.S. Fanfiction by: _A J_

Guest starring W.i.t.c.h.

(Standard **disclaimer** applies)

Chapter Two

"Why aren't we letting the local LEOs handle this?" The slightly overweight, clean-shaven guy asked as he took one last picture of 'The Mummy of Union Station'. Irma wasn't sure what his name was.

"Because this was obviously the work of our thief, so she's under our jurisdiction, McGoon," the brown-haired guy who'd found her answered. Apparently his name was deNodoze, or something similar, and the main reason she wasn't sure of the other man's name. The only reason she knew _his_ name was the older man with them. He kind of looked like her dad, only in much better shape. Everyone else in the group surrounding her dried shell just called him 'Boss' except for …

"Got an ID, Gibbs," the only woman with them called out. She was sitting on the bench with Irma's body … _holding Irma's wallet!_

'_How did she get that without …?'_

"Nice to see your Mossad training put to good use, Ziva," 'Boss' said with a nod. When nothing else was forthcoming, he raised his eyebrows at the dark-haired woman.

"Oh. Irma Lair, from … Heatherfield, West Virginia. Hmmm, probationary license … Gibbs, she's only seventeen." At that, 'Boss's brows dropped into a scowl, while the other two men's eyes met briefly in something like fear. Ziva was still shuffling through Irma's wallet. "Ah, keycard for the Montpelier Hotel, and a three-day bus pass. Not stamped yet," she added, flipping the last item over.

"That would be because she just bought it. From that guy," deNodoze answered, pointing to the newsstand in the corner.

Irma, who'd been completely absorbed watching this 'CSI:Fed' team examine her body, turned and waved automatically to the cute guy who worked behind the counter. She realized belatedly that he couldn't see her, just like everyone else, and her expression fell to match his. Apparently deNodoze had been none too gentle in his questioning. Irma started feeling sorry for the guy, who looked like the dreamboat who played Clark Kent on "Smallville", until she remembered how much he'd charged her for a pack of gum.

"And I'm just learning about this now, why?" 'Boss Gibbs' sounded ticked.

"We hadn't gotten to the 'witnesses' part of the conversation yet, Boss."

'_Smooth recovery, deNodoze,'_ Irma chuckled to herself.

"Well, we have now, deNozzo." Yep, he was ticked. As the younger agent dug his notepad out of his pocket, three more people came under the yellow 'Caution: Crime Scene!' tape.

"Wow," said a girl who looked barely older than Irma. She was completely decked out in Goth regalia from her pale skin to her black-painted nails, tattoos, spiked collar, bracelets and necklaces, and a pair of three-inch black leather platform boots that went to the middle of her thighs. The last straw was her twin black braids, which made her look like Pippi Longstocking's evil twin. "My first crime scene! Thanks for bring me along, Ducky."

This was directed at a short grey-haired man in a lab coat who was at one end of a gurney.

'_So this is Ducky,'_ Irma thought, looking the elderly man over. _"Well, now I know who deNodoze called earlier.'_

"Second crime scene," several voices echoed together, including the nervous young man holding the other end of the gurney. The Goth-girl fairly bounced around with pent-up energy … until she saw the victim's body on the bench.

"Oh, my god, that poor girl." Her raven braids bobbed as she settled on one knee to take readings over Irma's body with some weird device straight out of Star Trek. "This thing better be working correctly." She fiddled with a dial on one side of her handheld trinket. "Yup, I'm definitely getting readings of microwave damage, Ducky, and … something's hinky about this."

The Gothic girl stood up, turning slowly around with the now-beeping device in her hand at arm's length, and stopped when she was facing the spot Irma's disembodied conciousness stood. "Hey Gibbs, the microwave damage readings were vertical. Whoever set that thing off was either above or below our vic. But for some reason, all the moisture it displaced didn't dissipate like vapor should in this kind of climate control. It's concentrated … right there …"

All eyes of the team turned to see what had their forensics technician fixated, to see a pair of wet footprints. They matched, tread and all, right where Irma was standing in her ghost-Crocs, invisibly staring right back at them.

_Freeze frame_


	3. Chapter 3

"_**Aqua Vitae"**_

N.C.I.S. Fanfiction by: _A J_

Guest starring W.i.t.c.h.

(Standard **disclaimer** applies)

Chapter Three

"Darn …" Abby started, tapping keys on her handheld device. _"This …"_ she continued, trying the two dials that jutted out of one side. _"THING!"_ she finished, and whacked its backside with the heel of her hand like a recalcitrant two-year-old. Her teammates all chuckled, as did Irma. "It's not funny! McGee, give me a hand, here! I can't get the EMF detector to run! It's stuck in some kind of diagnostic loop, and the only thing running is the barometric pressure reader I had up last."

She gave the uncooperative P.E.T. another glare. "Which I think is on the fritz. It keeps insisting that all the H2O that should be throughout this room, and it's a _big_ room, so that's a _lot_ mind you, is _right … there!"_ Abby waved angrily at Irma's faint, moist shoeprints.

"_Huh, well that makes as much sense as the rest of my day has,"_ Irma muttered. _I _am _the Water Guardian, after all."_

"Did you say something, my dear?" the eldermost gentleman asked, from where he was leaning carefully over Irma's dried forehead.

"YES!" Abby blurted. "Didn't any of you hear me? McGee …" She waved her odd device imperiously in his direction.

"Boss?" the first three younger agents asked Gibbs at the same time, each with a different inflection. He seemed to know what each was asking, though, and turned away from the mystery footprints with a frown.

"Davyd, diNozzo, basement; McGee, upstairs with me. Palmer, here's your chance: process this scene like I was breathing down your neck the entire time. Ducky …" 'Boss Gibbs' paused for a second and gave the M.E. a wry grin. "Try to keep the kids on task. And Abby …"

He was beside her in one stride, and grabbed her frustrating P.E.T. "Work now, ghostbusting later." He spent a few seconds with it, trying to put the new device on standby, then simply put it in a pocket of his blazer. Handing Abby the camera McGee had set down to draw his gun, Gibbs gave his team a nod, tapped his earpiece twice to activate it, and nodded again when the other three followed suit. Without another word, he and Mcgee headed for the stairs to the upper level.

As the other two agents hurried downstairs, Irma could hear Ziva asking Tony, "Ghostbusting?"

"Ghostbust_ers_, actually, Columbia Pictures 1984, with a sequel in 1989. Both starred Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis, Bill Murray, Annie Potts, Harold Ramis, and Sigourney Weaver. Three out-of-tenure college parapsychologists go into business as spirit-hunting exterminators. High comedy, cerebral and guttural at the same time without being insulting, written and directed by two of the stars. Decent special effects and good – if fanciful – history for the 'Master Ghosts' in both movies …"

"_diNozzo,"_ came out of the team's earpieces. _"What part of discreet did you _never_ learn?"_

"Sorry Boss." Tony leaned over and whispered to Ziva. _"I've got 'em both on disc. I'll loan 'em to you later."_

"Be still, my achy breaky heart," she murmured, rolling her eyes. When he snorted, smiling, she glared at him. "What?"

"Close enough," he answered, bringing his penlight and his Sig-Sauer to bear as they got next to the basement door. Holding up three fingers, he silently counted down, eased the door open, and the pair slipped silently into the lower level of Union Station.

Irma giggled again. _"Are they always like that?"_ she wondered 'aloud'.

"Unfortunately, yes," Ducky replied, almost absently. "Those two would be so much better off if they'd just get it over with and date." He was now _very_ carefully checking under Irma's body's fingernails. He was sure they wouldn't find anything that would further the unfortunate young girl's case, but he – along with Gibbs and Abby – believed in being thorough, all the same.

"Who're you talking to, Ducky?" the forensics tech asked from his right. She was changing SD cards out on the camera, since McGee had filled the last memory chip.

Dr. Donald Mallard blinked up at her. "I thought I was addressing you, Abigail. Didn't you just ask me about Tony and Officer Davyd?" Abby and Palmer looked at each other for a minute.

"Nnoooo …" Abby responded, her voice rising at the end to turn it into a question.

"I could have sworn you asked me if our two recalcitrant agents were always acting up around each other. While I thought the question was rhetorical, I thought you were wondering if they were like that in the field, as well as the office, where I know we've all observed their sometimes less-than-appropriate camaraderie." The M.E. turned to Palmer. "And I know you didn't ask me, Jimmy, because it was most definitely a female voice. I'm quite certain you're well past the age where your voice has broken, Mr. Palmer." Jimmy flushed, and Abby's brows dropped, making her look even more like an evil Pippi Longstocking.

"But I didn't say anything, Ducky!" The raven-haired woman whirled in place, looking through her forensic supplies. "Darn it, Gibbs! He took my only multi-reader, and I have the weirdest feeling we need it, right now!" Huffing, she spun back around and took two more pictures of Irma's Earthly remains. Then, suddenly inspired, she crouched down low and took one of the bottoms of Irma's shoes. "I wonder," she whispered, saving that frame and turning around.

'_It can't be this easy,'_ Irma thought, seeing Abby focus on the watery shoeprints where she was 'standing'. Willing a bit of extra moisture to settle on the soles of her ethereal feet, she put as much track down as she thought she could without ruining the shoeprint, and then stepped back once, hoping the C.S.I. Goth would catch it. When Abby gasped, even as she was taking her picture of the first set of shoeprints, Irma knew she'd succeeded in getting her attention. _"Now, what to do to _keep_ it …"_ she muttered, looking around at their various equipment for herself.

"Now I know that _that_ wasn't you, Abigail," Ducky interrupted both young women's trains of thought with his voice.

"Am I the only one not having an existential experience, here?" Jimmy asked, reminding Irma of Martin Tubbs back home in Heatherfield so much, she laughed.

Abby snapped a second picture of Irma's footprints, this time getting an exposure with the original set and her newly-made ones right behind them.

"I believe the term you're looking for is paranormal, not existential, Mr. Palmer," Ducky said, and turned to face squarely in the direction of Abby's current obsession. "My dear girl, if this is _you_ we're holding up afternoon traffic trying to assist, I would appreciate it if you'd let us get back to the hard part of the work. There will be plenty of time later for us all to get on better terms with each other, I'm sure. But we really must get you out of here, first."

"D-doctor Mallard, are you … talking to our dead girl?" Palmer sounded faint.

Irma swore under her breath, realizing something she could have … _should_ have been doing from the beginning of this fiasco. Concentrating on Abby first, she looked right in the tech's eyes and started laying her Water Guardian 'whammy' down. _"You can hear me, you can hear me, YOU CAN HEAR ME!"_ she commanded, and while she was waiting for the effect to settle on Abby, she turned to Palmer and repeated the process.

"I do hope that's of some help," Dr. Mallard said acerbically, "because while that will keep their lips busy, I'll need the rest of them to transfer you safely onto this gurney, Miss …"

"_Lair. Irma Lair,"_ she replied to his unfinished sentence, and she hoped that her spell had taken, because she was painfully sure the good Doctor wasn't the kind who'd sit patiently by and play 'switchboard' for her. She giggled as she remembered that that was one of the Guardians' nicknames for Taranee, their telepath.

"NICE TO MEET YOU, IRMA!" Abby yelled.

"_OW! I'm_ dead_, not deaf!"_ the suddenly former Water Guardian replied. She huffed from her spot only a foot away from Abby and fogged up the lens of the camera.

Jimmy Palmer, newly-instated probationary field agent, chuckled nervously, and moved to help Ducky carefully lift the desiccated body onto the gurney. After two tries at moving Irma's mortal remains without having anything crumble off failed, and Abby had safely 'bagged and tagged' the tip of Irma's right pinky and the corner of the front board on the bench which they'd accidentally dislodged, Irma had run out of giggles, and was as flustered as the rest of them. (Seeing her own appendage fall off was not funny in the least.)

"Um, would bubble wrap help?" she asked, hopefully. All three looked at her approximate location, confirming that her 'listen' spell had worked, at least. She would have blushed if she could at their exasperated expressions. "It's just … well, there's one of those Postal Outlet places across the lobby …" She started to point along with her explanation, when she realized that she'd 'whammied' them to listen, but not to see.

Fortunately, she was dealing with three of the more brilliant people in Washington, D.C. "Mister Palmer, if you'd please?" Ducky asked, while Abby sat back down next to Irma's feet.

"I wonder …" the forensic expert muttered. Sitting up straighter, she nabbed the digital camera back out of her lab coat pocket. Turning to face Irma's disembodied consciousness, she held it up. The corners of her mouth turned down when she couldn't see anything extra through the view on the camera, then with a shrug she said, "Hold still, Irma!" and snapped off a shot anyway.

Irma did one better; far from being a newbie to the limelight, she struck a 'victory' pose in the split second Abby gave her, willing some more of the ambient moisture around her to play 'outline'. Jimmy came back just as the limning of mist dissipated again, but he passed through its edge, and mistook her Watery invention for the classical 'cold spot' people typically associated with ghosts.

"Gha! Ectoplasm! I've been slimed!" he cried, shivering all over. Both women laughed, and even Ducky smiled.

"_It's just water, silly. Next time, don't walk _through_ the 'dead girl'."_

Irma laughed some more, until a quiet voice behind her hissed "Ducky, why is Abby yelling, and why is Palmer carrying thirty feet of bubble wrap?"

"Well, I'm only hoping it'll be enough, Jethro," Ducky countered, suddenly all business. "We're having the Devil's own time getting Miss Lair here on the gurney without knocking anything else loose." He held up the small evidence bag with Irma's mummified finger in it. "The dear girl suggested bubble wrap, and I think it just may do the job."

"Good thought, Abby," McGee said, giving her a friendly tap on the shoulder with his fist.

"Oh, not me, Tim. It was Irma," she said in all seriousness. "I was too busy collecting the bench bits from the second failed attempt when she suggested the Post-It! place across the lobby." She pointed it out to him, and he turned to look automatically before what she had said registered. He and Gibbs whirled on her at the same time.

"Abbs, do I need to cut back on your Caff-Pow!s per hour … again?" Gibbs asked, forehead red with a cross between anger and frustration. "I told you to save the ghost talk for later."

"And I would have, Gibbs … if the ghost had," she practically whined in her own defense. "Right, Ducky?"

Doctor Mallard looked up guiltily from where he and Jimmy were already busily wrapping the first roll of packing material around the mummified body on the bench. "Quite so, Jethro. The young girl started up a conversation with me literally out of the blue. As you all know, it's been a long-standing practice for me to speak with my patients. With one notable exception, I've never had one respond before, but this time, my dear mother's professed second sight just may be a truly inherited gift, after all. No, Mister Palmer, just tuck it close and get the next roll, I think," he interrupted his own explanation when Jimmy and he got to the end of the first ten-foot roll of wrap.

"Right, Doctor," Palmer responded, and started opening the next package.

"_It doesn't hurt that I'm also a bit 'gifted',"_ Irma chuckled, then stopped when she saw that though Abby, Jimmy, and Ducky had all laughed quietly along with her, Gibbs and McGee were still 'out of the loop'. _"Shoot! I forgot."_ Concentrating on McGee first, who was already basically looking in her direction, she thought her 'Hear me!' mantra at him, not stopping until he started blinking and shaking his head at the unfamiliar voice.

Then she turned to look into Gibbs' eyes. If he was as much like her dad as she thought, he'd be a resistor, and she'd have to add some extra oomph behind the spell. Concentrating first on creating two small bubbles of water to catch and hold his gaze with, Irma 'blinked' them in front of him so he was actually looking straight at her. _"You can hear me, Jethro Gibbs. You can hear me, Jethro Gibbs, You can hea …"_

Gibbs crouched in place suddenly, Sig-Sauer drawn and cocked, aiming for where the phantom voice was calling his name. Poor Abby screamed and dropped to the floor, since she'd been standing directly behind Irma's position.

"Put it away, Jethro! It wouldn't do you any good; she's already dead!" Dr. Mallard exploded, appalled at his long-time associate's behavior.

"That's what you three have been hearing? Somebody calling your name?" Gibbs put his gun up, but not away.

"N-no. Oh, no, Agent Gibbs," Jimmy offered bravely. "We've been regularly conversing. How else could she suggest this?" He waggled the end of the second bubble-wrap roll before carefully setting it between Irma's arm and the armrest of the bench.

"All that proves is that somebody has an eye on you, and has a sick sense of humor," Gibbs countered, now turning slowly in pace and eyeing the various cameras throughout Union Station ... none of which were curently pointed their way.

"_Why you close-minded …"_ Irma's language rapidly devolved to the point where all the others besides Jethro were wincing.

"That will be _quite_ enough of that, young lady!" Ducky countered, just as angry with her as he was with Gibbs. "While I agree with the unfortunate sentiment, I cannot condone such language. Now, calm down, rethink your approach, and find some other way to convince him."

"_Okay … Ducky. I can call you Ducky, can't I?"_

"Well, I don't see why not; all my other friends do," Doctor Mallard chuckled, while the other three who could hear her laughed.

Gibbs' scowl just deepened, and he drew Abby's P.E.T. back out of his pocket. Clapping it to McGee's chest, he growled "Get this thing working, Tim. Whatever setting will find whoever is doing this … find it." He held down the button on his earpiece and asked Ziva and Tony for a sit-rep even as he walked toward the same basement door the other two agents had gone through.

"_B R B, Abby,"_ Irma whispered right next to the forensics tech's ear, then followed Gibbs soundlessly. She found that being made mostly of will and Water made getting through the tiny crack of the quickly-closing door no problem at all.

"Where're you going?" Abby spun around twice, and McGee paused in his examination of her personal electronic thing.

"Who, Gibbs?" he asked.

"No, Irma! She B R B'd me, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't need to use the little girls' room!"

McGee swung up the multi-scanner they had built together, after being inspired by a Star Trek marathon, and reactivated the barometric reader just in time for it to register all the water vapor in the room … following N.C.I.S. Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs down into the basement.

_Freeze Frame_


	4. Chapter 4

"_**Aqua Vitae"**_

N.C.I.S. Fanfiction by: _A J_

Guest starring W.i.t.c.h.

(Standard **disclaimer** applies)

Chapter Four

Moving silently along the subbasement corridor, Ziva became aware of a soft ticking near her. At first she thought it was diNozzo's shoes, or his watch. But it didn't sound like his preferred faux-italian loafers, and it was too irregular to be the latter. Then she recognized the pattern, and rolled her eyes. Tony was tapping out her name in Morse code.

With a glare in his direction, she used her duty-short fingernail to tap out _"What?"_

It took him a minute to put his next message out. Apparently, Gibbs' forced Morse refresher course hadn't been geared towards speed. _"Glad youre back in states,"_ he returned. She sighed.

"_Me too,"_ she ticked back, then after a pause added _"better shopping."_ She smiled at his snort. Tony would never change.

"Coming in," Gibbs said over their earpieces. Both agents immediately crouched down and gave their area another quick 360o scan.

"Clear," Tony diNozzo whispered, knowing the new mikes Tech had outfitted them with would catch it. They were still a dozen yards from where the unfortunate girl had expired two floors above. He and Ziva waited for Gibbs to catch up with them.

"_Heya boss,"_ Tony tapped out with flashlight and gun when he sensed Leroy Jethro Gibbs was behind him. A soft flick to the back of his head was his answer.

"Status?" Gibbs whispered.

"First basement clear," Ziva murmured back, her Israeli accent _very_ thick again after six months in her home country. "Twelve meters to target."

"Go on, I'll cover." Gibbs clicked off the safety on his Sig. Ziva and Tony crept forward a few feet at a time, alternating who led. At the same time they were getting to the spot where the missing weapon had gone off, the victim of the attack in question caught back up to Gibbs.

"_There you are! Geez, there're a lot of tunnels down here!"_ Irma chirped.

"Whoever you are, keep it down," Gibbs managed to hiss through gritted teeth. This was getting ridiculous.

"_Boss?"_ Tony whispered.

"Just do the job, diNozzo," Gibbs murmured. He fought a shiver as a drop of water hit his ear. Funny, he hadn't noticed any leaks as he closed on Tony and Ziva's position …

"_Sorry,"_ that damned voice spoke again, right by his freshly-wet ear. _"Guess Abby was right. I _am_ pulling all the ambient moisture in from around me."_

"Just go back to your bench," Gibbs hoarsed, then thumped himself on the back of the head. Great. Now they had _him_ doing it.

"Gibbs, the missing weapon is here, but it's been … Ziva began.

"Chip-jacked," Tony finished for her. "The whole software pack's gone, Boss." His whisper was loud in the enclosed corner where the experimental microwave cannon had been abandoned. Louder still was the sudden snap of a rubber glove in the same alcove.

"Keep going; I'll process here," Ziva murmured. She looked up at Tony through her lowlight glasses, and he nodded, then they both looked back at Gibbs.

"Right or left, Boss?"

"_Left,"_ Irma told Gibbs before he could answer. _"I can sense the river that way, where I couldn't before a level up. Prob'ly means our perp left a door open …"_

Gibbs sighed. "diNozzo, check left, I'll sweep right and catch up if you need me."

"Gotcha," diNozzo nodded, and took off down the long access tunnel. Ziva meanwhile was busy taking out a larger portable light and evidence bags from her waist-pack. Gibbs stopped her just before she turned the light on.

"Let us clear out this level first, Davyd. No sence giving our thief a clue how close we are … yet," he told her. He swept past and off to the right, on the lookout for anything else down here besides his team.

After watching Ziva array her tools around herself in an impatient semicircle, Irma floated after him. Gibbs was about to step right through her as he spun around at the end of the short passageway, when a series of tappings came over his earpiece.

He waited it out, swearing he was going to send diNozzo for a month's stint in MTAC to man the Morse station.

"_Open door at end of tunnel. Orders?"_ Tony sent.

Irma grinned at the look of resignation on Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs' face. _"I was right, wasn't I?" _she gloated.

"Hold position!" he rasped to Tony. He stalked back to Ziva and the violated weapon, giving a shake to get rid of the chill walking past Irma's position left him with. "McGee, grab a kit and help Ziva take care of this area down here," he said into his mike. "Tony and I are still after our thief." Gibbs gave the former Mossad officer a quick nod, which she acknowledged with one of her own, and took off after diNozzo.

Irma watched him stalk off, debating on whether she would rather follow him to catch her killer, or stick with the team clearing up her death-scene. She knew she'd like to hear all the particulars from Abby and Ducky, in the hopes of a possible resuscitation once she had something to work with. But hanging around with the taciturn Gibbs was more exhilarating than anything short of her off-and-on sniping with her fellow Guardian Cornelia Hale.

Before she could make up her mind, the echo of shots rang out from the left tunnel.

_Aqua Vitae_

The other Guardians were carpooling to the Heatherfield Mall with Taranee's brother Peter. He was running just late enough for his new job at the Sports Authority he was grumbling at the four girls.

"I'm sorry, Peter, but you know what my mother's like," his girlfriend Cornelia sighed. "She hears somebody's going to the store, and she hands them her list. I should just count myself lucky this stop actually _is_ all for necessities."

Before Peter or one of the others could say anything else, the Heart of Candracar Will wore on a chain under her habitual hoodie chimed loudly. The Leader of the Guardians hurriedly yanked it out, and the other two girls in the back seat leaned in with her to see what the mystical gem was alerting them to.

An image of the Oracle of Candracar, their nominal boss as the Guardians of the Infinite Dimensions, swam into view, and his voice reached the four telepathically.

"_Luba has just alerted me that something apparently happened to Irma, Guardians. Are any of you aware of her whereabouts?"_

"Uh, sure, Oracle. She's in D.C. with her dad at his police convention," the hyper Air girl Hay Lin said from Will's left. "What did Luba sense?"

"_The Keeper of the Aurameres was alerted to an unprecedented draw of power by just the Sphere of Water from the other four, as if Irma had to assume her Guardian guise without the Heart of Candracar."_

The four girls exchanged worried glances. What could make life-toughened Irma have to resort to her Guardian powers on a day trip to the nation's capital?

"We'll get out there and find out what's going on right now, Oracle," Will told him, huffing her red hair out of her eyes where it had escaped her barrette. Turning to look at Peter's worried gaze in the rearview mirror, she grinned fatalistically. "I guess you'll get to work on time after all, Peter. Duty calls." She held a hand out for the other three girls to grab hold of.

Before she added hers, Cornelia leaned across the front seat of Peter's Impreza. "Don't forget to get my skates sharpened, lover. Catch ya later," she said with a kiss, then she and the other three girls disappeared in a green flash.

As many times as he'd seen it since he'd found out about his sister and his girlfriend's extraordinary double lives, Peter still marveled at the display, then turned his gaze resolutely back to the road. His job may not be as interesting, but his boss was just as much of a slavedriver.

_Aqua Vitae_

James Palmer, newly-instated probationary field agent of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, gave the scene of Irma Lair's demise a final once over. They had finally gotten her doubley-wrapped body on the gurney, and managed to transfer the microwaved bench into their evidence van as well. Now he and McGee were combing over the area for any particulates they may have missed on this floor and the one above. Aside from the ring of dust showing where the microwave beam had passed through over Irma's final seating place, they had little to go on.

Abby had taken a reading between the edge of damage on the bench and the corresponding spot on the circle overhead, and found that the cannon must have gone of at a slight angle. They weren't sure what bearing that had on their investigation yet, though.

Palmer was about to declare the site clean when McGee, on his way past to join Ziva with an evidence kit, jerked to a stop, then broke into a run, fumbling with his gun, the kit and a flashlight at the basement door.

"Shots fired, shots fired!" Tim declared, dropping the kit in frustration and taking off down into the lower levels. Jimmy drew his own service pistol, never yet fired in the line of duty, and nervously followed. He took the kit with him, though. He had a feeling they'd need it after … whatever was going on downstairs.

_Freeze Frame_


	5. Chapter 5

"_**Aqua Vitae"**_

N.C.I.S. Fanfiction by: _A J_

Guest starring W.i.t.c.h.

(Standard **disclaimer** applies)

Chapter Five

Will, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin teletransported into the only reference place they had: the Lair's room at the Montpelier Hotel. Irma had sent them a video tour on her camera-phone when she and her dad arrived the night before. Now, the other four Guardians looked around for any clues to Irma's location.

Taranee sat in front of the nearest window, opening her mind up and searching for Irma's telepathic 'voice' amid the hubbub of the city below. Hay Lin walked through the hotel suite, tapping things at random and listening for the echoes of the past, to see if Irma had said anything while still in the room of her plans for the day. Cornelia did one quick circle where they appeared, and sat on the nearest bed with a _'Hmph!'_ There weren't any real plants in the suite; just plastic and cloth imitations.

Like the others, Will had her own extra source of information available. Pulling out her cell phone, she had it call the one in the room back from memory, and set the two to finding any electronic clues Irma may have left behind. The girls had barely begun when there was a knock on the room's door.

"Uh … who is it?" Hay Lin asked in an uncanny copy of Irma's voice. If it was housekeeping, they were going to be pretty confused in a second.

"Government agents," was their reply. The Guardians immediately went into emergency mode.

"_Keep talking, Hay Lin! Stall 'em!"_ Cornelia said telepathically, while she jumped forward and tried to open the window next to Taranee. The locks were on the top of the half-wall glasspanes, and she had to resort to her telekinesis to get them to unlatch.

"_Sure …"_ "Just a minute … I'm getting dressed!" Hay said to the door in Irma's voice, then blushed crimson. _"Will, do something!"_

"_Like what?"_ her red-haired companion asked, fast-downloading the room's phone records for later checking.

"_Astral Drop, a glamour, SOMETHING!"_ the Air Guardian returned, just as a new commotion started in the hall outside.

"What's going on here?" a too-familiar voice asked. Will hurriedly hung up, not caring if the two phones were finished now.

"_Oh no, Mister Lair!"_ Taranee gulped mentally, helping Cornelia with the side of the window. Even with their Guardian strength, it refused to budge.

"Officer Thomas Lair, from Heatherfield?" a woman's voice, heavy with a Hispanic accent, asked from the other side of the door.

"Yes … Inspector Medina, right?" Tom replied.

"Agent Medina, now. I've come home to D.C. from Interpol," the woman replied. At the name, the Guardians started panicking worse.

"_Isn't that …"_ Taranee started.

"_The same!"_ Cornelia confirmed, remembering the two Missing Persons agents who had investigated her best friend Elyon Brown's apparent disappearance three years before. That Irma's father remembered the woman as well meant she'd definitely left an impression.

"Mister … sorry, Officer Lair, there's been an incident. We need you to come with us, sir." The as-yet-unnamed male agent told Tom. The girls, still in the process of trying to simultaneously investigate and escape, all froze in the room.

"Is that why you're bothering my daughter? To find me?" Tom asked.

"Actually, it's about your daughter, Sergeant." Medina sounded strange.

"Then who's in my room? Who were you just talking to?"

"_Ah … crap,"_ Hay sighed. _"Girls, get out of here … I'll pretend I came to surprise Irma after all."_ Hay had originally been invited to go with her oldest friend on this tourist's trip while Irma's dad was at his Police Officers' convention. But when one of her grandmas had taken ill, Hay had stayed behind to help at their family's Chinese restaurant, the Silver Dragon.

Will and the other two nodded, and together managed to wrest the window open far enough for the three of them to sneak out onto the ledge, shut it behind them, and scamper away.

It was just in time. Hay hurriedly grabbed up a towel one of the Lairs had left behind, and untied her twin ponytails as Tom opened the door with his keycard. She pretended she was drying her hair as he stepped in.

"Hay-hay?" Tom blinked a couple times. "When did _you_ get here?" A heartbeat later … "_How_ did you get here?"

"Oh! Uh … Hi, Uncle Tom! I was able to catch the morning express line from Martinsburg! I surprised Irma, too!" the Air Guardian chirped. "She must have stepped out while I was in the shower … some jerk in coach splashed me with his mocha latte …" At this point, she was uber-glad that the girls had often traded outfits over the years; no parent could conclusively say who's clothes were whose at a glance, with the possible exception of tall Cornelia's favorite floor-length skirts.

"_Don't overdo it!"_ she heard telepathically from somewhere overhead. She caught a glimpse through the mental contact of the D.C. skyline, and deduced that the other Guardians were now on the roof of the hotel.

"_Trying not to …"_ Hay replied, as Miss 'Hell in Heels' Medina came in behind her best friend's dad, along with her unknown partner.

"So you don't know where Miss Lair went when she left?" the Hispanic woman asked. Hay shook her head.

"I think you better both come with us," her unnamed associate said.

Tom Lair and Hay Lin traded a worried glance as they both headed out the door, Hay stalling only long enough to toss down the towel and grab her discarded hair ties.

_Aqua Vitae_

The N.C.I.S. team was still laughing as they drove back to their lab … with one exception. "Enough, already, okay guys?"

"Not going to happen, Tony," Tim McGee chuckled.

"The look on your face," Ziva managed to murmur between gasps.

"Gibbbbs," Tony whined.

"Don't look at me, diNozzo. I'm not the one who fired two rounds into the ceiling over a rat." That just got the other three laughing again.

"Yeah, a rat … that _landed_ on my _gun_ …" the aggrieved agent cried, showing off the scratches the rodent in question had left him when he'd jerked his firearm up in alarm back in the sewer under Union Station. "I'm gonna need every booster known to man when we get back. Lord knows what diseases that thing had …"

"At least you don't have to worry about … the _plague …"_ Tim chortled, and the others were off again.

"Booster shots'll have to wait. We've got to go look for possible exits our missing thief may have made use of," Gibbs countered.

"Ten steps ahead of you, Gibbs," Abby piped up from in back, when she could almost breathe normally again. "I've pulled up the D.C. tunnel system from our archive, and am tagging all the external access doors available from that tunnel branch."

"That's saying thief-boy has an external hatch in mind," Tony said fatalistically. "For all we know, he could have an inside man behind any one of those other 'authorized personnel only' doors. Or even more than one, if we're looking at shome double-dealing finksh." He slipped into his bad Scottish-Connery impersonation with the last few words.

"Point taken …" Abby said from behind her laptop, and set up a new color of flags on her map program for the 'locked' doors. "How are we going to cover all of these, Gibbs? There're more than three hundred exits in this quarter of the city."

"I think we can depend on some interdepartmental cooperation on this," Gibbs replied. "Theft of government property falls into who's bailiwick, McGee?"

"Uh, that would be the … F.B.I., Boss," Tim stammered.

"Guess we'd better inform our old friend Fornell we have another interagency case." Gibbs stomped the accelerator, adding another fifteen kph to their speed to get them to the N.C.I.S. office complex that much faster.

_Aqua Vitae_

Hay Lin sat miserably in the back seat of the department cruiser that carried her and Tom Lair to their still-unspecified destination. She still didn't know if it was a good thing that they had a familiar – if not necessarily friendly – government agent escorting them into the unknown. What could Irma have gotten up to in one morning? The answer, knowing her best friend and the double lives they led, could be practically anything.

She just hoped it was something mundane, like beating up a potential mugger or jaywalking in the law-happy Capital city. She didn't know if D.C. was ready for a supernatural slug-fest of the Guardian kind.

"Sorry, I haven't introduced my partner, have I?" Medina asked, as they turned a corner. "Officer Lair, Miss Lin, meet Special Agent Wes Myers, N C I S."

"Is that anything like C S I?" Hay tittered. Wes sighed, and Medina rolled her eyes.

"It's exactly like that, Hay Lin, except it's the Military version. Naval Criminal Investigative Services." The slight Hispanic woman smiled disarmingly.

"So what does my daughter have to do with the Military C S I?" Tom asked. "Some sailor make a pass at her, and she taught him the error of his ways?" He wasn't sure to be scared or proud yet.

"Honestly, Officer, we don't know much more than you so far. Our field team dispatched us to pick you up and bring you back to headquarters. They were still at their crime scene."

"Maybe she was a witness, and she'll need a ride back to the Hotel," Hay said encouragingly to her friend's father. "And since she's still a minor for another week, she'll need you to sign stuff for her." She _so_ hoped that was all it was.

"If only, Hay-hay. If only." Tom couldn't help thinking that her hopeful story was the best-case scenario, since they were in the murder capital of the country. They pulled up in front of a nondescript building near the coastal end of the city, and Medina escorted them inside. She pulled her phone out after they cleared the entrance metal detectors.

"Agent Medina for Agent Gibbs. Let him know I've got the Lair father at the office ..." She looked over her shoulder at Hay. "And a friend of the family." She listened for a minute to a reply, and stiffened visibly. "Yes, sir. Right away." She hung up and turned to Tom and Hay Lin with a strained expression. "Would you please follow me?" She turned and walked purposefully off without looking back.

Now doubly-alarmed, the two followed the only familiar face in the building. Hay, reaching out telepathically to the other Guardians, let them know as much as she did.

Taranee told her that they had followed invisibly behind and had the building in their sights.

Will added that the Heart of Candracar, whenever she tried to scry for Irma's location with the mystical gem, was giving two directions. _"It's weird. It's like Irma's in the building you just went in, and she's still back the way we came from. Cornelia swept back that way, but all she saw was a bunch of vans with the same four-letter name as these guys, and they were all leaving ..."_

"_Union Station,"_ the Earth girl supplied.

"_So … what? Irma's here, but she … lost a foot or something _there,_ so the Heart thinks she's in _both_ places?"_ Hay wondered, confused.

"_Hay _Linnnn_ … ew …"_ her friends overhead all echoed together.

"_Sorry! Sorry, I kinda dozed off in the middle of that Saw marathon last night,"_ the Air Guardian sent, cringing belatedly herself at the images she'd conjured.

"_You guys think that's morbid, wait'll you hear what _really_ happened,"_ the voice they had been waiting to hear – Irma's – said from nearby.

_Freeze Frame_


	6. Chapter 6

"_**Aqua Vitae"**_

N.C.I.S. Fanfiction by: _A J_

Guest starring W.i.t.c.h.

(Standard **disclaimer** applies)

Chapter Six

"My _daughter's __**WHAT**__?"_ Tom Lair roared in the conference room he and Hay Lin had been shown to.

"Detective Lair, I am _so_ sorry …" Maria Medina began. "I had _no_ idea this was what we were sent to get you about …"

"Was it … painless?" Hay couldn't help but ask. Her best friend – her first friend _ever_ – had been … _jerkied_.

"_Not exactly, Hay-hay," _Irma told her_. "But it was quick. I figure, less than ten seconds, maybe? All I rem was suddenly being _wayyyy_ to hot, then it went right through sunburn and straight to 'Ow I stepped in the campfire,' and that was it. Course, obviously, that _wasn't_ it in my case …"_

"_It's ten seconds your murderer's gonna think was an eternity in Xanadu when I get through with him,"_ Hay returned a little too quietly.

Tom meanwhile was continuing to yell at the only representatives of U.S. authority present in the room. Agent Myers was wincing with every expletive the Heatherfield cop uttered.

"_BELAY THAT NOISE, CORPORAL!"_ Gibbs shouted as he entered the room, and recognised the screaming man. Tom, hearing the hauntingly familiar voice, shut up, turned, and gaped.

"Gunny?" was all he managed to say after an uncomfortable moment.

"Yeah, Tom, it's me," former Gunnery Sergeant Leroy Jethro Gibbs said as he shut the door behind him. "Not the way I saw our next meeting after Nazerat, either." The two men eyed each other from across the room, then met in an armclasp. "How's the civilian life, Corporal?"

"Suddenly a lot less quiet than I remembered, Gunny." Tom turned to look at the bewildered faces of Hay Lin and Agents Myers and Medina. "'scuse us folks … Gunnery Sergeant and I served together in a hot spot north of Israel twenty years ago." He turned back to Gibbs with a sad expression. "Just one more thing we have in common now, Gibbs. We all mourned for Kelly, and Shannon." Another painful pause passed, while the two men grieved for their lost wives and daughters. "What can I do to help?"

"I'd like to be able to tell you to stay out of our way, Tom … but I know you too well to think you'd change that much before the end of the _next_ century …" Gibbs said with half of a crooked grin. "Can I give you the liaison with D.C.'s LEOs so _they'll_ stay off our necks?"

"I …" Tom read the look in Gibbs' eyes, and knew Irma's killer would be brought to justice one way or another, just like Shannon and Kelly Gibbs' over a decade ago. "I'll do what I can, Gunny," Tom said with a sad half-grin of his own – and a proper military salute, for old times' sake – and turned to Maria and Wes. "Which way to the interference desk?"

"Follow me, Detective Lair," Agent Myers said,and led the bereft father from the room.

"What were you saying, Miss Lin?" Maria asked the young Air Guardian, as Gibbs left too.

"Huh? Oh … I was just wondering if she suffered …" Hay said distractedly, while she and the other Guardians (still on the roof, invisible,) were getting all the pertinent details they could telepathically from the victim herself. Irma was filling them in from downstairs in Autopsy, while watching a harried Doctor Mallard. He was in the midst of three autopsies, all on freshly-mummified individuals. Two Marines had predeceased Irma by about three hours, when the new experimental microwave weapon was originally stolen.

"I … wouldn't know, Hay. Our forensics team might be able to say …" Medina said softly. "Would … would you like a few minutes? Alone, I mean?"

"I … yes," Hay said, at a telepathic prompt from Taranee somewhere overhead. "Thank you, Ins … Agent. Agent Medina …" Hay self-corrected, looking from the woman to the window and back distractedly, still in a five-way conversation with the other Guardians.

"Please, Hay-hay," Medina murmured, putting a reassuring hand on the Chinese girl's shoulder. "Call me Maria. I'll be right down the hall …" She squeezed once sympathetically, then left Hay Lin alone in the conference room.

"_Finally!"_ Irma crowed from below. _"Hey, Ducky? I'm gonna go upstairs and bring my BFF up to speed. I'll check back in in a few, 'kay?"_

"By all means, dear. I shan't be going anywhere for a while," Doctor Mallard replied. He turned to face her disembodied 'voice's location, his transparent faceplate speckled with bone dust and – for lack of any proper medical term in Irma's vocabulary – dandruff from his first patient.

"_Yeah, I'd rather not be here when you reach my slab, now that I think about it,"_ Irma told him with a grimace. _"Just have Abby page me after you're done, alright?" _Ducky nodded, chuckling.

"It shouldn't be too long, dear. And believe me, I more than understand. Were our positions reversed, I dare say I'd be more than happy to leave mystical matters in your more experienced hands." He went back to work on the late Lieutenant Bryce.

Irma willed herself up two floors through the venting and into the conference room, manifesting behind Hay as a cloudy image of herself in the far corner. _"Hey, Hay-hay," _she began.

Alerted by her best friend's voice, the youngest Guardian jolted from her chair and rushed across the room. "Oh, Irma!" she cried, making to throw her arms around her Watery friend, only to stumble to a halt against the far wall, her front and arms damp and chilled from going _through_ Irma's location. "Irma?" Hay whirled, her eyes tearing up.

"_Oh, Hay-hay … ah, geeeezzzz,"_ Irma continued, when Hay started crying in earnest. _"Cmon, Hay Lin … I mean, yeah, I can use all the moisture I can get in these over-dehumidified offices, but … Can ya save the Waterworks for later, Hay-hay? Say, my _funeral_, later? We still got a job to do."_

"I … I guessss …" _'SNIFF!'_ Hay said as she dragged a sleeve across her eyes. She looked miserably at the floor for a minute, then brought her eyes, now hard and blazing, back up to meet Irma's. "So … what _is_ our job here?"

"_We should probably get Cassidy here just in case,"_ Irma and Will both replied, the latter as the other three girls teletransported from the roof to the room.

"This isn't exactly our jurisdiction, Will" Taranee said as the trio became visible to Hay and Irma.

"Hey, this place _killed_ one of us! I think it just _became_ our jurisdiction!" Cornelia fumed.

"Actually, I think Taranee's right," Will said hesitantly. "I mean, yeah, we're involved, obviously, but … this is the job these people get paid for … _including_ your dad, Irma …"

"_Ohmigod, I completely forgot about Dad …"_ Irma blurted.

"We'll go back for Cass," Cornelia told Will, pointing at herself and Taranee. "You two tell Candracar."

"I _can't_ just _leave_," Hay sniffed. "I've been seen!"

"_Nah, I need her here to keep an ear on these people for me," _Irma deadpanned._ "But we should definitely tell the Council …"_

"_Can _you go?" Will asked the freshly former Water-girl.

"_I … don't know," _Irma admitted._ "I was kinda pulled along when they moved my body here from Union Station …'_

"_OOOOH!"_ Hay Lin the science-fiction fan squealed. "You're a focused, non-terminal, repeating phantasm!" There was a suspicious splashing sound as Irma facepalmed.

"What?" the other three Guardians asked.

"_She watched a Ghostbusters marathon over the weekend,"_ Irma muttered in answer.

"Miss Lin? Is something wrong?" came the voice of Agent Maria Medina through the door.

"_Yipes!"_ Taranee gasped telepathically. She, Will and Cornelia became invisible once more and flitted to the ceiling as the door opened.

"_Ohmigod, it's Small-fry!_ " Irma chuckled. Hay rolled her eyes while shaking her head in Maria's direction.

"No, Agent … Maria," Hay said with a tremulous grin. "I mean, nothing new, anyway … other than the obvious." She nabbed a tissue from the table and made a noisy production of blowing her nose to distract Medina from the Watery spirit and her three invisible friends leaving over the Agent's head. "Maria? Could you … show me around? Something tells me I'm gonna be here a while …" She used her most plaintive puppy-dog eyes on Maria, learned from years of overexposure to the recently late Irma Lair.

NCIS Special Agent Medina gave her a sad smile. "Sure, Hay-hay. Come on, I'll introduce you to the team on Irma's case."

"I'd like that," Hay said tearily, and followed her out to the bullpen.

Gibbs and Fornell were holding court over the double dozen NCIS and FBI agents they were coordinating to start checking sewer exits. Fornell even had his own assistant from the FBI office along to help field calls between teams. It was throwing many of the NCIS agents for a loop though, because her name was also Abby.

Tobias caught on after the third time someone craned their neck looking for the raven-haired gothic lab-tech, and started using his assistant's last name, instead. "Ab … Mizz Cadence," he started, "could you read the team list back for us, please?"

"Sure, Director." The petite blonde in a no-nonsense cream power suit stood, straightening her notepad absently. "Team one, sector Kappa, Agents Light, Medina, Myers, and Noguchi …" She continued through the twenty other agents present, while Maria surreptitiously pointed each one out to Hay Lin as they were named.

"Wow, all these people're on Irma's case?" Hay whispered afterwards.

"Well, it's not just Irma's," Maria replied. "What happened to your friend, well … we're trying to make sure it doesn't happen to anybody else, Hay-hay …"

Hay's only audible answer was a gasp muffled by both her hands, while she was busy telepathically telling that information to the rest of her team.

"_We'll keep an eye out, Hay," _Taranee sent back._ "We're off to Candracar quick first, then stopping to get Cass on the way back. See you soon, Hay-hay."_

"_Right, T'ree. And I'll give her a call if anything comes up here before you guys return."_

"_That's my girllll …" _Irma's voice faded as the four Guardian girls left their home dimension for the Temple of the Congregation in Candracar, the Heart of the Infinite Dimensions.

"If you're all leaving, what should I do?" Hay asked Medina.

"Hmm, I know they've got Officer Lair helping in the Liaison office, but if you don't have any authority or experience …"

"Well, I can answer phones like it's nobody's business," Hay replied, watching Abby Cadence set up a switchboard's worth of telephones on a table in one corner. "I've got loads of practice from taking orders at the Silver Dragon," she continued, referring to her family's restaurant.

"It can't hurt to ask her," Maria said with a reassuring smile. "Oop, here comes Myers. I'll talk to you later, if you're still here, Hay-hay." Maria Medina left with her partner and their assigned teammates, and Hay walked over to volunteer to help the search coordinators.

_Aqua Vitae_

Will, Taranee and Cornelia arrived in Candracar's central audience chamber, and immediately missed Irma. "What the ..?" Will started, about to open another fold right back to Washington, D.C.

"That needs to wait a moment," their Fire mentor Halinor told them. "We have news for you before you return," she added, her pale blonde hair swirling behind her as she turned and led them towards the gathered Council of Candracar. The Oracle, a bald young man from Basiliade, smiled at the three girls.

"Welcome back to Candracar, Guardians. We unfortunately cannot tarry to visit. You must not let them perform an … autopsy … on Irma. She may yet be saved, Guardians. Return to her, and swiftly!"

The girls traded startled, scared looks, and immediately folded away.

_Freeze Frame_


End file.
